Friends,

Last Sunday, I preached about grief, loss, and resurrection. You can listen to the sermon here.

In his poem Four Quartets, T. S. Eliot wrote, "In my end is my beginning." His poem was about the spiritual journey, but it applies too to the work of grief. In all the ways we find ourselves lost after the death of a loved one, God holds out a promise of resurrection that offers new life. I believe that new life does not erase the pain and wounds we carry, but lets us move forward, healed, forgiving and forgiven, with the hard-won wisdom of all those chapters of our lives. Whole and free, with our wounds and our scars.

Eliot's words point us, too, to the cyclical nature of the church year. In just a few weeks we'll celebrate Christ the King Sunday -- the 'end' of the liturgical calendar, when we proclaim Jesus as God's final word of restoration and hope. And then, the following Sunday, we begin again with Advent, the yearning for salvation. Our lives echo this movement, from end to beginning, in ways that are practical and mystical, too.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, I wonder what vision keeps you going? What is the 'end' of the journey you hope to reach, with God's help?

With love,
Susan+

Tags: Rev Susan, grief, Death